11/24/1936 – 08/20/2024

Chickasha, OK

Graveside service for Mary June Pearson Cash Bell will be held on Friday, August 23, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. at El Reno Cemetery under the direction of Sevier Funeral Home.

Mary June Pearson Cash Bell, passed away on August  20th, 2024, surrounded by her children and grandchildren at her daughter Mary Beth’s home in Chickasha. June was born in Tryon, Oklahoma on November 21st, 1936 to Paul and June (Mote) Pearson, following an extended illness. June graduated from Hobart High School in 1955 and received a Bachelor of Science degree from Oklahoma Baptist University completing a double major in home economics and education. Later on, she completed a master’s degree from Southwestern Oklahoma State University. During her college years, she served as a summer missionary at Camp Nunny Cha Ha and later did mission work with a small Baptist church in Kansas. During college, she volunteered each Sunday at a church plant near Shawnee. Since girls were not allowed vehicles at that time, she had to beg for a ride with a fellow OBU student, Bruce Bell. 

June started her career as OSU Home Economist at Large in 1959  in Grady County. In 1960, she moved to El Reno and began working for Canadian County OSU Extension as a 4 H Agent. She led and advised many youth in projects, which ranged from sewing and baking to leadership and animal science. Some of her fondest memories were taking 4Her’s to The American Royal in Kansas City and summers at 4H camp helping students develop leadership skills and enjoying games and square dancing. Later on, she served as an Extension Home Economist/Educator working with thousands of women and their families through her positions in Canada, Oklahoma, and Garfield counties. During the 80’s, one of her solemn responsibilities was counseling farmers who were at risk of losing everything during the farm crisis.

On the last day of December 1960, June married Thomas Cash. She said she knew he was the right one when she saw him doing a part in the Sunday Evening Training Union meeting. They were faithful members of First Baptist Church El Reno for many years until Tom passed in 2016. 

Tom and June were blessed with two daughters, Mary Beth Cash Carver and Shalyn Cash Gallaway. These were the best parents two girls could ever have, having the forethought to buy a home in El Reno within walking distance of the church, the library, the grade school, junior high, and high school as well as piano lessons, the dentist and in a neighborhood where bikes could be ridden until dark.

After retiring in 1992, she and Tom traveled extensively with friends going to Europe, Israel, and several other countries, as well as enjoying cruises to Alaska and the Caribbean. 

During her career, June was an active member of the American Association of Family Consumer Sciences and served as state president of the Oklahoma Association of Family Consumer Sciences. Public policy has always been one of her deepest passions. She served in numerous organizations, including the American Association of University Women, and was a founding member and past president of the OSU FCS Ambassadors, Epsilon Sigma Phi, and NEAFCS. 

June has been a twice recipient of the Norma Brumbaugh Scholarship and received the Profile of Excellence Award from Oklahoma Baptist University. She was also awarded the Lynda Harriman Leadership Award. She served on the Baptist Foundation of Oklahoma. She was a recognized presenter for Legislative Day at the Capitol and received the Margaret Edsel Fitch Public Relations Award from the Oklahoma Home Economics Association. She served on the Oklahoma Family Community Leadership Board and the Enid Public School Board of Education. She was president and past president of the YWCA of Enid and a member of both the Garfield County and Canadian County 4H Foundation. During her retirement, she was appointed by the governor of Oklahoma to serve on the Oklahoma Board of Nursing as their Public Member. She worked tirelessly for CASA and the El Reno City Council focusing on water issues and city infrastructure. In her leisure, she enjoyed her friends, singing with the Damrosch Music Club, her children, and grandchildren, and loved being a Master Gardener.

After more than 50 years of marriage to Tom, she found love again with her college friend Dr. Bruce Bell, the one she rode to church with at OBU. They enjoyed several years together and we are glad he was there for her at the end. 

Leaving to cherish wonderful memories are Mary Beth Carver, her husband Terry Carver, and their children, Cash, Mason, and Claire. Shalyn Gallaway and her children, Brady Gallaway, his wife Jasmine, and Paige Gallaway.

Memorials can be made to First Baptist Church in El Reno and Trinity Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. Other memorials can be made to The Pearl House, which involves building Home Economics programs for girls overcoming trauma in rural Ghana Africa.  https://thepearlhouse.org.

Condolences may be made to the family at www.sevierfuneralhome.com